Saturday Themeless by Jamey Smith
Jamey is our constructor who worked at the University of Texas for 25 years as a
writer/editor in the university’s development communications office. This is my seventh Saturday themeless from our former Longhorn friend and it was a real test for me. I was struck by a blizzard of names that I muddled through but I saved my error for the very last cell that you see marked in red. I thought the wonderful and very familiar actress Diane WIEST had the same last name as my friend Jason Wiese and I had no idea on SLOT canyons which I was very happy to research. So I accepted the bad "E" and moved on.
1. Loads: GOBS - Tons and Lots only slowed the process.
5. Fully get: GRASP.
10. Lab order?: HEEL - My wife has tried do train me as well for when we shop together with mixed results
14. "Black Dog" singer Parks: ARLO - A crossword staple clad in new clothes
15. Motley crew: RAG TAG ARMY - A RAG TAG ARMY is given credit for saving Kyiv from the invading Russian army
17. Ground corn: MEAL.
18. Attraction in Singapore's Marine Life Park: OCEANARIUM - Our crossword friend Julian Lim teaches at The National University of Singapore. I wonder if he's ever gone here
19. One-named Oscar winner for "Precious": MONIQUE.
21. Insalata whose key ingredients happen to be the colors of the Italian flag: CAPRESE - Insalata means salad in Italian and CAPRESE means "in the style of Capri".
22. Invites from a balcony, say: ASKS UP - Mae West is on a stair not a balcony but does issue a famous invitation to a very young Cary Grant.
23. Japanese-American: NISEI - Japanese Americans who were born in America
24. Lake that feeds the Mississippi: ITASCA - This sign is on the banks of Lake ITASCA in north central Minnesota.
26. Things to work on, maybe: ISSUES.
30. Choreographer de Mille: AGNES - Two minutes of Cecil B. de Mille's niece's famous Dream Ballet from Oklahoma with her narration.
32. Mountain near Olympus: OSSA - It's a little over a 3 hour drive between them
34. Barclays Center hoopster: NET - NBA
35. Stretch from the Loop to the Gold Coast: MAGNIFICENT MILE - A famous Chicago stretch
35. Stretch from the Loop to the Gold Coast: MAGNIFICENT MILE - A famous Chicago stretch
39. __ ideal: EGO - In Freudian psychoanalysis, the ego ideal (German: Ichideal) is the inner image of oneself as one wants to become
40. Donor type, briefly: O-NEG - O-NEG blood types are about 7% of the population
42. Courted with love notes?: SANG TO - Notes of music
45. Whim: NOTION.
47. Signal silently to: NOD AT.
49. Dwindled: RAN LOW - Lake Mead over last 21 years
52. Fraidy-cats: COWARDS.
55. Italian luxury brand founded by a Greek silversmith: BULGARI.
58. Cor anglais kin: OBOE.
59. Sticky roll that originated in Britain: CHELSEA BUN.
60. Burrows: DENS.
61. Spots in a casino: PIPS.
62. Wear: SPORT.
63. __ canyon: SLOT - This one is in Utah
Down:
1. __ ray: GAMMA.
2. Snacks that turned 110 last year: OREOS and 11. Northern terminus of I-79: ERIE - Newer cluing for some old standards
3. Unable to come up with: BLANKING ON - I know STONEHENGE very well but BLANKED ON it for a few minutes on the 1/18/23 puzzle.
4. "Now, here's the thing": SO LISTEN!
5. Classifies: GROUPS.
6. Ijeoma Oluo's "So You Want to Talk About __": RACE.
7. Period: AGE.
8. Keanan of 1990s TV: STACI.
9. Like some fusion menus: PANASIAN - Pan-Asian cuisine has a fusion of flavors and ingredients from throughout Asia
10. 49th vice president: HARRIS - Our current one
12. Outback runners: EMUS.
13. Old __, Connecticut: LYME - About 3 hrs up I-95 from Manhattan
16. Goggles: GAPES - The verb not the eyewear
20. Seemingly: QUASI - As a substitute, I guess I am a QUASI-educator
23. Fledgling: NASCENT - Rookie teachers came to my mind.
25. Element of change?: COIN - This was what I used when I had to go door-to-door to collect for the Omaha World Herald in 1958. (45¢/week for daily + Sunday)
27. Local information source?: UNION LABEL.
28. Unagi roll fish: EELS - I saw this so often in crosswords, I had to look up the pronunciation - oo NAH gee
29. Editor's "As you were": STET.
30. College town north of Des Moines: AMES - Iowa State's record setting QB will be playing in a big game tomorrow.
31. Infatuated: GAGA - My granddaughter is GAGA over Taylor Swift
33. Lily variety: SEGO.
36. Byproduct of some plant pigments: FOOD DYES - Here's some...
37. Experiment: TRIAL.
38. Chandra and Thoth: MOON GODS - I know CHANDRA is the name of a NASA satellite and so there was probably a connection to space. I enjoyed reading about these two names.
43. "Crazy" duo __ Barkley: GNARLS - GNARLS Barkley is the nonsense name of a duo whose first album was named Crazy. Google if you must.
44. Pressure units named for the inventor of the barometer: TORRS - Finally, a name this physics teacher knew. Evangelista TORRICELLI is a student of Galileo who is credited with inventing this instrument.
46. Skipper?: TRUANT.
48. Music rights gp.: ASCAP.
50. Home of Maine's Black Bears: ORONO - Every serious crossworder knows of the home of Maine University
51. "Hannah and Her Sisters" Oscar winner: WIEST
 |
| Mia Barbara Dianne |
52. Soviet letters: CCCP - The dejected Soviet goalie is in shock while the Americans celebrate "The Miracle On Ice" in 1980.
53. "Didn't see you there": OH HI.
54. Fail to hold it together: WEEP.
55. Obfuscate: BLUR.
57. "Price negotiable" letters: OBO - This home goods store in Shellbyville, Indiana has a great name!
